Page 64 of Venomous Lust
It’s the root.
“Relial can give you more sedative if the pain is too great.” Words like the cutting edge of an ax reached Hazel as Yalko spoke. “It will make you sleep through the agony.”
Hazel swallowed, gathering what little courage she had left. She knew nothing of the Muharee and their world except for one thing. One thing all warrior species had in common.
Weakness was never rewarded.
“No.” Her voice was stronger as she pushed the darkness further and further away. As she prepared to embrace the pain and let it embrace her back. “No more sleep.”
Yalko nodded, the approval clear in his reptilian face. He was glad she could withstand the pain. At her side, Khal watched her with a gut-wrenching concern.
“Thank you for saving our lives.”
“A life for a life.” The words were simple, but somehow Hazel sensed the Muharee did not dwell on fancy, overly emotional speeches. “The blood has been repaid.”
Then Yalko turned to leave, walking to the round opening in the wall that led out of the room. As Hazel watched his tall form move further away, her mind raced.
They needed the Muharee to save Celaith and Zaxis, to prevent Knut from plunging the entire Ring into chaos. They needed the Muharee if they ever wished to go back to their home.
“No!” Hazel called out and Yalko stopped, his back straight, his long clawed hand on the rock. He turned his head to the side, yellow eyes shining. “When I saved your life, it cost me my freedom, my friends’ freedom. It almost cost me my life. You saving us cost you nothing. The debt still stands.”
Yalko turned blazing eyes to her over his shoulder. Danger hovered in the air as those yellow eyes settled on Hazel, then flashed to Khal.
A single nod was all Yalko gave them before leaving.
As soon as his chieftain was gone, Relial moved forward, placing the white, wet fabric over Hazel’s wound and around her thigh. For the briefest of moments, the fabric was cool and soothing against her mangled flesh.
Then the soothing cold gave way to an inferno. Flames kissed her open flesh, slithered inside her torn muscles, traveled along her frayed nerves.
“Let the Mother’s milk cleanse your body with fire,” Relial intoned gently, with what was the closest thing to empathy Hazel had ever heard from a Muharee. “Just let go. Trust in her.”
The pain became a living thing inside her body, spreading like the roots of a plant under her skin, inside her veins and arteries. Soon, it was as if the flesh were melting from her bones, liquefying in puddles of acid mud.
She wanted to tell Khal to help her, wanted to tell Relial and Yalko that she wasn’t strong enough. Not nearly strong enough. She wanted to sleep, to slip into blessed oblivion.
But her voice was gone.
More words came from Relial, but Hazel didn’t hear them. She couldn’t hear or speak, couldn’t see, though her eyes were wide open. All she could do was feel, and all there was to feel was pain.
Finally, her voice came and the scream left her lips.
Hazel screamed and screamed as the world vanished and she was consumed by the fire, which reduced to a faint light in the back of her mind. Somewhere along the way, Khal took her hand and bent closer. He whispered soothing nonsense in her ear as the brazier raged on in her body, and she held on to his voice like a lifeline.
And still, she screamed.
* * *
Khal
Watching Hazel suffer was like having a hot poker rummage through his insides and pull his organs out one at a time to crush them slowly. Her pain hurt his very soul, and all his instincts urged him to roar and destroy everything around him in a fit of rage. Powerlessness was making him mad, but Khal controlled his impulses.
He knew he would not be welcomed for long in the Muharee’s home. That didn’t matter; he never intended to stay.
Hazel lay on the bed, her entire body contorting, the scream still coming from her mouth but her voice was shattered, broken. Khal watched as her skin covered in a cold layer of sweat, a fever burning right through her. The healer had warned him that the Mother’s Milk, the substance they extracted from the Medina’s root, was like a fire spreading through her body. But not even all his training had prepared him for seeing his bloodmate suffer this way.
Finally, hours into the healing, Hazel quieted, her screams dying down as her body finally surrendered. He watched her slip into oblivion, her mind shutting down as her muscles relaxed.
“I am so sorry I couldn’t protect you better.” Khal reached for Hazel’s hand, cradling it in his own. It was so small, so dainty. So fragile. “I won’t fail you again.”
